Brothers
by ImagingThings
Summary: Dinah, daughter of Jacob, tells about what it's like to have 12 brothers. Just a short piece.


Right… here's the deal; I'm sure many girls who have brothers think theirs can be, well, rather annoying at times. Well then, imagine having twelve brothers. Oh yes, you heard right; twelve brothers.

Who am I? My name is Dinah; I'm the only daughter of Jacob, son of Isaac, and Leah, daughter of Laban. Actually I'm not just my parents' only daughter; I'm my father's only daughter.

Isn't that the same? You may ask.

No. My father has two wives; my mother Leah and her younger sister Rachel, as well as two concubines Bilhah and Zilpah. That's quite alright where I come from.

So, basically I've got six brothers with whom I share both mother and father and six others with whom I only share father.

You know what? I think I'll tell you a little of each of my brothers. Just to let you know a little about them.

Reuben is the oldest, and one of my full brothers as well, and I have to say he _does_ try to keep the others from being too hopeless. Not that it always works but he tries, I'll give him credit for that. Still, I wish he'd stop treating me like a baby.

Simeon is next, and honestly maybe he's even better than Reuben; he's old enough to not teasing me all the time but unlike Reuben he doesn't have the pressure of being the oldest on his shoulder. However he too can be bossy at times.

Then there's Levi; he's, how to say it, quiet. Yes, I believe quiet is the best word. He does what he's told without complaining. (Well, I think all my brothers do that, it's just, different with him.)

Let's move on to Judah; I don't know what to say about him. He can be really protective at times and honestly; it's annoying. I know he means well but I'm not a baby anymore. (What I said about the doll earlier, well, that's _years _ago.)

On to Dan, my oldest half-brother, Bilhah's son. What can I say about him? We aren't that close.

Naphtali; Bilhah's other son. Like Dan I'm not that close to him. Then again, we're close in some odd way. You see, when I was younger I, how to say it, had a tendency of running away, and Naphtali, being the quickest, always opted to go after me. Even though I'm only his half-sister.

Right, let's go on, to Gad, he's Zilpah's oldest son. When I was younger he sometimes would sneak in on me while a slept and scare me. But then my mother talked to his mother (Zilpah is my mother's handmaiden) and it stopped.

Asher is Zilpah's other son. He's really funny; always cheerful and trying to brighten up peoples' lives. I really like him.

Issachar is my full brother like Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. I also think I'm a bit closer to him that to them; we're closer in age you see. Although sometimes I wish he'd be a little more fun. And no, taking my doll on the grounds that it was a waste of good straw _isn't_ fun.

Zebulun is the youngest of my older brothers and without doubt the one I'm closest to. Man do we have fun together sometimes? I will not even start telling about all the mishaps we've gotten into together. I'd never be done then.

Right, Joseph, the older of my two younger brothers and the oldest of Rachel's sons, thus our father's favourite. See, Rachel was always his favoured wife. (Did I talk about Rachel like she still lived? No, she's dead.) I believe he's a good boy even though he's spoiled rotten. It's not his fault that our father has favourites.

Last but not least there's Benjamin. My infant baby-brother. Rachel died giving birth to him. So now we're not moving anymore. Our father would never leave Rachel's tomb. Neither would my mother I know; she might have fought with Rachel and been jealous with her over my father. But Rachel was still her sister.

Now you I didn't want you to think I don't like _all_ my brothers. I do. I love them. They're my brothers. I just guess everyone can be annoyed by their siblings sometimes.

Anyway; got to run now. My mother is calling for me to help with the cooking. Another bad thing of being the only girl; nobody else to help around the house.


End file.
